Japanese: FOR BEGINNERS (non writing)

[Forestmaiden71]

Anyone interested in learning basic Japanese? Well...here's some quick and easy lessons... Feel free to post your answers on here and me or one of the other Japanese people will help review it. This is for people who can only write in romaji. There is another thread for those who can write in actual Japanese characters. If there is an interest, I'll post more lessons later.

JAPANESE LEVEL ONE

LESSON 1.1

INTRODUCTIONS


KEY VOCAB

-watashi = me, myself, I

-wa = in language studies this is called a "particle" but don't let that confuse you... a particle basically is a word that helps build the meaning of the sentence. Its not important to know what it means at this point, and trust me, its a word that when you learn a lot of Japanese you get a feel for so don't sweat it if you don't understand it now. "Wa" is basically the Japanese equiv. to the English "is"

-desu = another particle, but this one is hard to translate directly - I think of it as meaning "this is so." Its a word that you'll quickly develop a feel for how its used in the language. Another important note is that the "u" is silent, so when you say "desu" it should sound like "des." This is the case WHENEVER you see a "su" at the end of a word in Japanese. Also, "desu" always goes at the VERY END of a sentence.

- san = added after the end of a name, san is a title of respect in the same way "Mr." and "Mrs." and "Ms." are used in English. San can be used for both men and women. Also, never call yourself "san" - other people will call you "Mary-san" but when you introduce yourself or talk about yourself, you are just "Mary."

-dozo = please.

-o negaishimasu = also said as "o negai," this phrase is a more formal way of saying please.






DIALOGUE

Mary and Shoko are meeting eachother for the first time.

Mary: Ohayo gozaimasu! Watashi wa Mary desu.

Shoko: Ohayo gozaimasu Mary-san! Watashi wa Shoko desu. Yoroshiku o negaishimasu.

*both bow together*

Mary: (said as she bows)Hajimaemashite! Yoroshiku o negashimasu!







BREAKDOWN OF DIALOGUE

Mary: Ohayo gozaimasu! Watashi wa Mary desu.
-translation: Ohayo gozaimasu! = (formal*)Good Morning!
Watashi wa Mary desu = I am Mary

Shoko: Ohayo gozaimasu Mary-san! Watashi wa Shoko desu. Yoroshiku o negaishimasu.
-translation: Ohayo gozaimasu Mary-san=(formal*)Good Morning Mary!
Watashi wa Shoko desu = I am Shoko
Yoroshiku o negaishimasu = *Pleasure to meet you!

Mary: (said as she bows) Hajimemash ite! Yoroshiku o negashimasu!
-translation: Hajimemash-ite! = Nice to meet you (used when first introduced to someone, lit. translates to "first time")
Yoroshiku o negaishimasu = *Pleasure to meet you!


notes:
formal* = Ohayo gozaimasu is the formal expression of "good morning" - its best when first meeting someone to be polite and formal. If you know someone or are comfortable with them, you can also say "Ohayo!" which also means "good morning"

*Pleasure to meet you! = There are several different ways to say this: "Dozo yorokshiku o negaishimasu," "Yorokshiku o negaishimasu," and "Dozo yoroshiku"

ASSIGNMENT

Make a post introducing yourself to me in Japanese. Just introduce yourself - you don't have to do anything else (please refer to first line of dialogue for an example of how to do this).

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Any questions feel free to ask...any of you real Japanese speakers feel free to jump in and help teach :P I'll post another lesson if there is an interest
JAPANESE LEVEL 1

LESSON 2

GREETINGS


Note- There will be no dialogue for this lesson - its all vocabulary words.


HAJIMEMASHO!!



KEY VOCAB

Ohayo gozaimasu= Good morning (formal)

Ohayo = Good morning (informal)

Konnichiwa = Good afternoon

Konbanwa - Good evening

O yasuminasai - Good night

Sayonara = Goodbye! (leaving for a while)

Ja ne = See you later! (Goodbye, but for a shorter amount of time between visits - informal, casual and used between friends)

O genki de = "Take care, goodbye!"



HOMEWORK

1. It is our first time meeting and its evening. Introduce yourself using the correct greeting.

2. It is morning and we are good friends - how do you greet me?

3. You want to say goodbye but want me to "take care" of myself - what do you say?

4. If someone is going to bed at night, what do you say?
__________________________________________________ _
JAPANESE LEVEL 1

LESSON 3

BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE/COLORS


HAJIMEMASHO!

KEY VOCAB

-kore = this (close to speaker)
-sore = this (close to person being spoken to)
-are = far from both speakers
-hai = yes
-iie = no
-neko = cat
-inu = dog
-shiroi = white (adj. form)
-akai = red (adj. form)
-kuroi = black (adj. form)
-aoi = blue (adj. form)
-kiiroi = yellow (adj. form)
-midori = green
-murasaki = purple
-pinku = pink
-orenji = orange
-ka = a question particle - equiv. to adding a question mark to the end of a sentence, it goes after the last word in a sentence to turn the entire sentence into a question.
-nan = what
(note: the color words are in adjective form to simply this lesson - if we were talking about the color white as a noun, it would be "shiro" and not "shiroi" - the "i" is simply dropped)

LESSON:

_______wa______desu.
(subject) wa (describing words) desu.

In Japanese, this is the most basic and simple of all sentence structures. I introduced to you in the previous lessons the particles "wa" and "desu." Remember, "wa" means "is" and "desu" is used to express "it is so."
The main topic that you are describing goes before "wa." For example, if we want to say "The cat is pink" we would say:

Neko wa pinku desu.

In english we would never say "Pink is cat." That just sounds silly! Its the same in Japanese - you never say "Pinku wa necko" or, literally you'd be saying "Pink is cat!" (people would think you named your cat "pink"). REMEMBER THAT "wa" means "is" so what you want to describe is always followed by "wa."

If you want to say "Over there is a cat," you would say:

"Are wa neko desu."

If you want to say "That next to you is a cat" you would say:

"Sore wa neko desu."

And if you want to say "This is a cat" you would say:

"Kore wa neko desu."

Kore refers to objects close to you, the speaker - Sore refers to object close to the person you are speaking to - Are refers to objects far away from both of you.

To change the expression "This is a cat" to "Is this a cat?" all you do is add "ka" to the end of the sentence. So, intead of being "Kore wa neko desu" (which means "This is a cat") you'd say "Kore wa neko desu ka?" (which means "Is this a cat?")


DIALOGUE:

Mary and Shoko are having a conversation.

Mary: Konbanwa Shoko-san! Sore wa nan desu ka?

Shoko: Kore wa inu desu.

Mary: Sore wa inu desu ka?

Shoko: Iie, kore wa neko desu.

Mary: Inu wa kuroi desu ka?

Shoko: Hai, inu wa kuroi desu. Neko wa shiroi desu.

Mary: Ja ne!

Shoko: O genki de!


HOMEWORK: Translate the above dialogue and PM to me.
>I know you can do it ... if you need hints or help on a specific part please PM me! I know it may look hard but don't overthink it - this is all very simple if you study the vocab<
__________________________________________________
JAPANESE LEVEL 1

LESSON 4

BASIC CONVERSATION




HAJIMEMASHO!




KEY VOCAB

-genki = energy, health

-o = said before words and phrases to make them more formal or polite (ex. O-neesan, which means "older sister" has an "O" before the word "neesan," which is the actual word for older sister)

-wo/o = "direct object" particle (ex. "Nihongo(Japanese) o ski(like) desu" = "I like Japanese")

*note: its easy to tell the difference between these two from usage in a sentence - don't worry about it ^^

-ski = "like" as in liking something/someone

-imma = now

-ji = hour

-gomen (nasai) = I'm sorry

-(domo) arigatou (gozaimasu) = Thank you

-sumimasen = excuse me

-no = possive particle, added to the end of a word is equiv. to adding "'s" in English

-wakarimasu = understand

-wakarimasen = do no understand

-Number 2 maybe? Well, gosh darnit, that's just not right!te imasu = do know

-shirimasen = do not know

-eeto/anoo = equiv. to saying "hmmm" while thinking in English

-ii = good

-chigaimasu = you are mistaken

-honto ne? = "really?"

-mo = particle, means "also"

-sugoii = cool


DIALOGUE

Mary is walking towards home.

Mary: Sumimasen! Ima nan-ji desu ka?

Stranger: Imma wa 1* ji desu.

Mary: Arigatou gozaimasu!

*walking home, Mary runs into her friend Shoko*

Mary: Ohayo! O genki desu ka?

Shoko: Genki desu. Mary-san wa?

Mary: Watashi mo. Ano wa nan desu ka?

Shoko: Wakarimasen...

Mary: Ano! Ano wa nan desu ka?

Shoko: Ah, wakarimasu. Shirimasen. Eeto..ano wa nan desu ka?

Mary: Ano wa inu desu ka?

Shoko: Chigaimasu, ano wa neko desu.

Mary: Honto ne?

Shoko: Hai. Watashi no neko desu!

Mary: Neko wa orenji desu.

Shoko: Ii des - orenji o ski desu!

Mary: Watashi mo!

Shoko: Honto ne?

Mary: Hai!

Togehter: SUGOII!



TRANSLATION OF DIALOGUE


Mary: Sumimasen! Ima wa nan-ji desu ka?
-translation: "Excuse me! What time(hour) is it now?" (note: the word for what, "nan", is often used in front of other words that tell what kind of "what" you are asking. If you're asking "what hour," you add "nan" to "ji")

Stranger: Imma wa 1* ji desu.
-translation: "Now it is 1 o'clock (lit. "the 1 (o'clock) hour")"

Mary: Arigatou gozaimasu!
-translation: "Thank you very much!"

Mary: Ohayo! O genki desu ka?
-translation: "Good morning! How are you (How is your health, how are you feeling)?"

Shoko: Genki desu. Mary-san wa?
-translation: "I'm well. Mary is..?" *note: In Japanse they rarely say "you" because that is too direct, instead you use names when addressing someone

Mary: Watashi mo. Ano wa nan desu ka?
-translation: "I am also (well). What is that other there?"

Shoko: Wakarimasen...
-translation: "I don't understand..."

Mary: Ano! Ano wa nan desu ka?
-translation: "Over there! What is that over there?"

Shoko: Ah, wakarimasu. Shirimasen. Eeto..ano wa nan desu ka?
-translation: "Ah, I understand. I don't know! Hmm...what is that over there?"

Mary: Ano wa inu desu ka?
-translation: "Is that over there a dog?"

Shoko: Chigaimasu, ano wa neko desu.
-translation: "You're mistaken, that over there is a cat."

Mary: Honto ne?
-translation: "Really?"

Shoko: Hai. Watashi no neko desu!
-translation: "Yes. That's my cat!"

Mary: Neko wa orenji desu.
-translation: "The cat is orange."

Shoko: Ii des - orenji o ski desu!
-translation:"That's good - I like orange!"

Mary: Watashi mo!
-translation: "Me too!"

Shoko: Honto ne?
-translation: "Really?"

Mary: Hai!
-translation: "Yes!"

Togehter: SUGOII!
-translation: "COOL!"

*we'll be learning numbers and how to tell time in level 2 Japanese, so I just typed the number in this dialogue as opposed to typing the actual word for the number^^


HOMEWORK

Write your own dialogue using as many of the vocab words as you can. It doesn't have to be long or complicated, just try to include at least the new lesson material. Be creative. After each sentence write a translation of what you wrote so I can see that you understand what you're writing.

ex.

Mary:"Watashi wa Mary desu" (translation: "I am Mary")

Make it AT LEAST 10 lines long.
__________________________________________________ _____
JAPANESE LEVEL 1

LESSON 5

HIRAGANA

***THIS IS JUST SO YOU WILL BE FAMILIAR WITH THE CHARACTERS***

YouTube - lesson 1.9

YouTube - lesson 1.9

HOMEWORK:

Memorize phrase and characters that are exceptions to the rule (hint - they are the red charaters in the above chart)

[CaptainUsopp]

assigment#1
Ohayo maiden-san! Watashi wa C.Ussop desu. yoroshiku o negaishimasu.
"bow"

[Forestmaiden71]

Hajimemash ite C.Ussop-san! Yōkoso! (yōkoso = welcome!)

[Forestmaiden71]

Ps. You don't have to PM me your assignments. Just post them here

[diamondA]

FM-chan's assignments rock my world~ but how about making them a bit shorter??
the scrolling makes my eyes (and i think others, too) go

[Forestmaiden71]

Lol, Yeah...perhaps I shouldn't have posted all of them in one post...?

[Random Dude 91]

getting subscripton

[Forestmaiden71]

Lol, welcome Random dude

[Random Dude 91]

Originally Posted by Forestmaiden71

Lol, welcome Random dude

thanks for the splendid service, I will dropp by sometimes to learn a bit
keep up the good work

[_SEGA_]

Here is a very helpful site for beginners.Learn Japanese, learn katakana and the o-koto